Cops eye 3 ex-soldiers' links to rob group

MANILA, Philippines - Three former soldiers arrested for illegal possession of firearms and explosives in Quezon City last week are under investigation for their alleged links to the Ampang-Colangco robbery group.

The Ampang-Colangco group is one of the most notorious robbery gangs and some of its members have allegedly collaborated with members of other groups like Alvin Flores and Ozamis gangs in staging the violent and sensational robberies in Metro Manila. The recent robberies in the metropolis have been perpetrated by armed men wearing military or police uniforms.

The three former members of the Philippine Army were charged by the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) with alarm and scandal and illegal possession of firearms, ammunitions and explosives following their arrest in Barangay Holy Spirit on Oct. 28.

Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo Jr., head of the QCPD’s District Police Intelligence Operation Unit (DPIOU), said the three were arrested after being caught illegally possessing a .45 caliber pistol, two hand grenades and two long steel magazines for M16 Armalite rifle.

But following the suspects’ arrest, police received information that the three were allegedly connected with the notorious Ampang-Colangco robbery group, Pedrozo said.

Pedrozo said that while they could not at the moment pin down the three former soldiers for their alleged involvement in robbery, the suspects are undergoing tactical interrogation “for us to get their background for a possible link (with the Ampang-Colangco group).”

Pedrozo said that during questioning, one of the former soldiers said he had just started renting the house on Oct. 18 with his live-in partner and that the two other men were just visiting him there. That former soldier said he is now working as a security guard.

“But what is suspicious there is their grouping in that house with those unlicensed explosives, ammunitions and firearm despite the fact that they are no longer in the military service,” Pedrozo said in an interview.

Two of the soldiers were dismissed from the military service in 2008 while the third went absent without official leave in 2007.

Pedrozo said they earlier received information that a group of men were “suspiciously gathering” at a house in Barangay Holy Spirit, prompting the police to be on the lookout in the area.

On Wednesday night, the police received a call from a resident in the barangay saying that a man was indiscriminately firing his gun.

When QCPD-DPIOU police officers responded, they saw the three former soldiers in the house pinpointed by the resident.